One Hundred Days
by Ar-Zimraphel
Summary: During the 100 days of Tony Stark's captivity, the world gives up. Pepper doesn't. Light Tony/Pepper. Rating for language.
1. Chapter 1

"One Hundred Days"

* * *

><p><span>I.<span>

_**Tony Stark missing in Afghanistan**_

By JAMES KEEGAN

_Published: January 27, 2008_

JALALABAD, Afghanistan - Stark Industries CEO Anthony Stark went missing on the border of the Kunar and Nangahar provinces at approximately 2:00 PM local time on January 27. A convoy carrying Mr. Stark along with several military officers and support staff was attacked by insurgents during the escort back to Jalalabad, Nangahar, where a military aircraft was waiting to take Mr. Stark to the Kandahar Air Field. An anonymous source at the U.S. military base in Jalalabad reports that heavy mortar rounds were fired at the vehicles following the detonation of at least one roadside bomb.

At this time no official casualty report has been released by the Department of Defense. However, a White House press release stated that nine airmen were killed and fifteen injured, making the attack the most deadly of its kind since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001. The casualty list does not include Mr. Stark, who was not recovered from the scene of the attack.

At 4:25 pm local time, the Craig Joint-Theater Hospital in Bagram began to receive service members injured in the explosion. Shortly after, an unnamed Air Force officer discovered that Mr. Stark nor his remains had been retrieved.

Mr. Stark arrived in Afghanistan sometime on January 26. According to a company press release dated January 24, a presentation of new military technology was the purpose of the visit. At this time, it is unknown if Mr. Stark's presence was the motive for the attack. "I.E.D.s can sit there for weeks," stated an Army lieutenant stationed at Craig Joint-Theater Hospital. "There's no evidence they were targeting Tony Stark."

An Air Force medic disagreed. "They took heavy artillery fire," he explained. "It was a planned attack."

A wide-ranging recovery effort involving members of the Army, Air Force, and Marines began in the late evening on January 27. So far no leads have been reported. Mr. Stark's office did not return our request for comment.

_Copyright © 2008, The New York Times_

* * *

><p>Her cell phone wakes her up today at 5:25 AM. Honestly, that isn't so unusual. Tony is awake regularly at obscene hours and likes to call her just to chat about the upcoming day, or a funny thing that one of the robots had done, or a plea to get his latest conquest out of the house, stat.<p>

("Potts, she's in the bathroom. I need you. I think she's a little crazy. Well, actually, I'm sure of it. She was purring at me. Purring, Potts. Like a cat.")

However-the fact that James Rhodes is on the other end of the call and not Tony, the fact that he is talking too quickly and too loudly over a bad satellite connection, means that this is one of the scariest moments of Pepper's life.

"Pepper-there was an attack-he's gone, they took him-we can't find him anywhere at Craig-"

When he stops talking to breathe, Pepper can't even respond. Her groggy mind stumbles over his words-is she dreaming?

_Pepper, they _took_ him._

"Jim-Jim, slow down," she chokes out. "I don't-what are you saying?"

She hears him breathe heavily, taking such great shuddering gulps of air that some part of her mind wonders idly if he might be crying.

"Tony," he wrenches out. "There was an attack on Tony's convoy, and now we can't find him anywhere."

Pepper feels like she is falling.

Her stomach can't catch up to the rest of her. Hard pressure where her sternum meets her abdomen makes it difficult to breathe. Her head is fuzzy and pounding. She wonders vaguely if she is still seeing and hearing and breathing in real time, or if the world had slowed down.

* * *

><p><strong>Tony Stark Missing in Afghanistan-is Tony kidnapped or is he on a bender of STARK proportions?<strong>

_By Dawn Larkin_

LOS ANGELES, California - Billionaire playboy Tony Stark and his entourage of military elites were attacked by insurgents on Sunday. After the firefight, Tony was nowhere to be found. Was the genius inventor kidnapped by al-Qaida operatives, or is Tony playing a classic prank on us all?

The theory is huge on Twitter, where #tonystark, #Afghanistan, and more recently #trollstark have been trending since the news broke last Sunday. Overnight, accounts pretending to be Tony cropped up. "Burqa babes, total tigers in the sack. #trollstark #tonystark" tweeted pretender T0nyst4rk yesterday. "Afghanis really know how to party. Wait, did my jet leave without me? #trollstark" added AEStark moments later. A third impersonator StarkNaked chimed in as well. "Osama bin Laden not as hospitable as you might think. Good to know I'll never be found. #trollstark."

"Mr. Stark does not own or operate a Twitter account," stated a PR rep for Stark Industries last year in a press release. "Nor does any member of his staff. Any account that claims to be him is false." The statement came after an impostor amassed over 200,000 followers by pretending to be Tony after last October's Stark Birthday Bash, where the work-hard-play-harder CEO was arrested in Las Vegas for a variety of misdemeanors, including lewd and lascivious conduct (for which the charges were later dropped).

What do you think, readers? Is Tony Stark secretly out experiencing the Afghani nightlife? Discuss your theory in the comments!

* * *

><p>Pepper isn't sure how she had even made it into the office. Yesterday she'd spent six hours trying to write a single memo for Public Relations. By 1:00 PM, someone over there had taken pity on her and forwarded a statement for Pepper to approve, something very generic, like: 'We're shocked at this terrible news, but we have faith in the men and women working to find Mr. Stark.'<p>

The rest of the day she had spent staring at her inbox and holding her phone in her hands, as if Rhodes would call sooner if she only she were prepared.

She hadn't slept. Instead, she had gotten out of bed at three am, taken a shower, and drove in to the Stark Industries Inglewood campus.

Newspapers sit on her desk. Every day her assistant dutifully brings her the _LA Times, the New York Times_, _The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post_, every major newspaper in the country. And they are all stacked there, Tony's face staring at her from every single front page.

She turns on the television out of habit. Late night (or is it early morning?) talking heads are rehashing the story-as if Tony's capture is noting but a three-minute entertainment puff piece-and so she flips to the next channel, and the next, and the next. Finally she lands on a commercial for and leaves it on for white noise, staring at her computer.

The cursor on her screen blinks at her. She should be drafting another press release, or rearranging Tony's schedule, or something. A slightly hysterical laugh skips out of her mouth. "Mr. Stark will be unable to make the meeting, Mr. Dell," she says out loud to herself, in an ugly mockery of her normal professional tone. "He's unexpectedly out of the country."

She'd actually had to make that excuse once before, when Tony had flown the Playmate of the Year to Barcelona on a whim. On his private jet.

The amount of paperwork she had had to do on his behalf had been ridiculous, even by her standards. Never mind the fact that he hadn't brought his passport or hers, or that they'd had to make an unscheduled landing at El Prat, or that he'd missed a meeting with the CEO of Raytheon-a meeting that had taken literally months to set up. Pepper had spent an hour on the phone with Swanson's assistant before she could talk to the man himself, and by the time she spoke to him, Tony's joyride was headline news.

("Yvetta wants to say hi, Potts. Come on, be polite! What? It can't be that bad, Spain loves me. Well, the women do. The men maybe not as much.")

Pepper's eyes suddenly fill with tears and the tightness in her chest expands so much that she nearly can't breathe.

"_-mysterious disappearance of bad boy billionaire Tony Stark a ruse? Is the infamous playboy secretly punking us? Giuliana, what do you think?"_

Pepper's eyes snaps up to the screen, where a group of three bottle-blonde and Botoxed women sit holding glasses of white wine in their red-painted talons that match their candy-red, over-inflated lips.

"_It would be just like Tony," _titters one of the women, talking about him as though they were old friends. _"I'll bet you twenty bucks that he shows up hungover in Bangkok in a week."_

Before Pepper realizes it, the glass tumbler filled with stale water is in her hand, and she throws it with all her might at the screen.

("Jesus, Potts, relax a little. The problem is that you're drinking water. How about a glass of wine or five? Want to help me uncork a bottle? And of course by 'uncork a bottle,' I mean...")

Her breath comes in a great, shuddering heaves, her heart pounds in her chest, her eyes sting. She can't tell if she is angry at the Barbie dolls and their tinkling little laughs or if she is angry with Tony or if she is angry at herself, for not persuading Tony against this half-baked plan of a weapons demonstration in an active war zone.

"Why did you do it," she asks the room aloud, her voice catching in a way that made her hate herself for the weakness it showed. "Why did you go there, Tony? You _asshole, _why did you go there?"

* * *

><p><strong>Stark Industries (SIA) suffers on Wall Street<strong>

_By Elizabeth Gardener_

January 29, 2008

NEW YORK, New York - By the closing bell on Monday, industrial giant Stark Industries (SIA) stock had fallen to 108.54 ( -19.00%, -25.46) in the Dow Jones. The huge loss was no doubt the financial world's reaction to CEO Anthony Stark's shocking abduction twenty-five miles outside Jalalabad, Afghanistan on Sunday, January 27. The loss followed what had been a strong recovery performance for Stark Industries (SIA) after January 21, when the company's stock fell by -4.17% (-10.26) in reaction to global losses.

"It wasn't as bad as it could have been," CNN financial expert Walter Lundgren explained. "If the Exchange had been closed, that would have been bad, especially in consideration of the market crashes last week in Asia and Europe. But this is a wild swing, and swings like this go the other way real fast. Plus, this isn't Obadiah Stane's first rodeo. It's not the first time the world's thrown a curveball at Stark Industries."

Lundgren was of course referring to the 1991 death of Stark Industries founder and president Howard Stark, whose untimely death in an automobile accident took place shortly before Stark Industries had planned to go public (after his death, Stark Industries did not become a publicly-traded company until 1993). In a press conference, Chief Operating Officer Obadiah Stane said, "We have every faith that the servicemen and women in Afghanistan will find Tony and bring him back to us." The obviously distraught Stane went on to say, "I ask that the people of this nation pray for Tony, for the young people wounded in the attack, and for the families of those who perished on Sunday. Tony's like a son to me, and just as we have done in the past, the board will make sure that his company will be waiting for him when he makes it back to American soil."

A high-level executive at the New York office of Stark Industries reports that an emergency board meeting will take place on Wednesday, January 30. "Everything's ground to a halt," the executive informed the WSJ. "The board will make Stane interim CEO to stop the bleeding, and start interviewing for a CTO under the radar."

In Afghanistan, the search continues for the missing billionaire. "They found a shoe," said reporter Nathan Groenig in a phone interview with National Public Radio's Terry Gross. Embedded with a Marine Reconnaissance unit in Jalalabad, Groenig described the find. "It was a moment of levity for the searchers. One Air Force officer commented, 'Only Tony would wear Italian leather to a war zone.'"

_David Arterton and Bernard Longi contributed to this report. _

Copyright © 2008, _The Wall Street Journal_

* * *

><p>"Now Pepper," says Obadiah kindly. "I know you. You're not doing what I told you to do, which is to turn off that damn laptop and just take a breather."<p>

Pepper feels like her muscles are made of guitar strings tuned so sharp that they no longer even resemble the notes that they're supposed to be. "Mr. Stane, I assure you, I'm perfectly fine-"

She hears Obadiah's heavy sigh, the one he uses when he's trying to get Tony to just listen to reason.

("Tony," she remembers Obadiah saying once, "Tony, you will not talk to Stevens and Kubasik like that. I don't care what you think about Lockheed's garbage ideas for the Orion spacecraft, they are not impressed with you and you're just making yourself look like a jackass. Do better. Stevens at least was a friend of your father, if you recall.")

She falls silent. "Pepper," says the COO again. "I know how much he means to you. I need you to take a few days to get your bearings."

Pepper is glad this conversation is over the phone, because she's not sure she'd ever be able to face Obadiah again if he could see her chin trembling like it is now. "I..."

"Go visit JARVIS," Obadiah says before she can get out an excuse. "I'm sure he's lonely by now without Tony to natter at him."

("I don't _natter_," Tony would say, aghast.)

And Pepper listens. Later, when she is sitting alone in Tony's house, staring at the great blue beyond, she realizes that she is not going to be fine at all.

* * *

><p><strong>Still no sign of Stark<strong>

_By Nancy Sheen_

_January 31, 2008_

INGLEWOOD, California - Its CEO Tony Stark now missing in Afghanistan for four days, the impressive Stark Industries campus is a flurry of activity. "News crews, choppers, reporters, everything," stated one employee who wished to remain anonymous. "The moment the news broke, it's been like this. I heard the PCH was gridlocked for ten miles through Malibu, too."

Along with other residents of the city, Stark's spectacular, self-designed mansion in Malibu, California has been under siege since the CEO's office released the brief statement, "We have every confidence in the search effort led by the American military and look forward to Mr. Stark's safe return."

Stark's famously hand-picked entourage has been approached for interviews by all the major networks and news organizations, but none agreed to comment on the situation. "[Personal Assistant Virginia] 'Pepper' Potts spent about twenty hours in the office on Tuesday," revealed a female employee working in the accounting department at Stark Industries. "No one has seen her since."

The Department of Defense has been unsurprisingly tight-lipped about the search effort. "A superior joint operations force has been engaged to locate Mr. Stark," stated General Dan McNeill in a briefing in Kandahar on Wednesday. The commander of Afghanistan operations went on to admit "No demands have been made."

General David Mondale, Ret. commented on the situation on Fox News. "It's bad for everyone. It's bad for the United States military, bad for Stark Industries... but mostly it's bad for the eleven airmen killed and the billionaire patriot in the hands of terrorists. If they haven't received a ransom demand, then it's because Stark is dead."

Stark Industries spokesmen refused comment.

Copyright © 2008, The Los Angeles Times

* * *

><p>The reporters found her apartment. Now Pepper regrets moving to the Villa Malibu complex, because if she had just stayed in the stupid place she'd had before, she highly doubts that the news crews would have even known where to look for her.<p>

("Pepper," Tony wheedles, drawing out the 'R' in a whine. "C'mon. I just gave you a raise. You want more, is that it? You're trying to embarrass me with this place? 'Tony Stark's Assistant Forced To Live in Squalor?' That's what the headlines will say.")

So three years ago she'd given in, and three years later there is a news chopper overhead because Tony is gone.

She gets through the gate somehow, despite the flash photography and the press of bodies against her Audi. If Tony was with her, he would be disgusted.

("I _just _detailed this for you," he would moan. "Don't they have any appreciation for fine vehicles, even if this _is_ a 2006?")

She parks the car ("Potts, this thing is practically an antique. Obie's grandma called, she wants the car back for parts for her Model T.") and steps out into the garage, her Louboutin _Privatitas_ echoing as she stalks to the lobby.

Jim calls the moment she makes it to her apartment. Pepper feels adrenaline and excitement for the three seconds it takes to answer and say, 'Hello?' until the first words from Tony's oldest friend are: "No joy."

She deflates and falls into her sofa like the bones in her legs have disappeared. "Just wanted to check in with you," says Jim, sounding tired and tense. "The special forces guys arrived here from Bragg late last night, I guess that was this morning for you... and we're putting together a strategy. JSOC wants to be the frontman on the operation of course, but the attack happened on AFSOC watch so McChrystal and Wooley are going at it, each trying to make sure their guys get in first."

"Are you saying that they flew in to Afghanistan?"

"Wooley did, McChrystal is still at Fort Bragg," Jim clarifies. "I met with Wooley this morning, requested special permission to stay. He's pulling some strings at the Pentagon for me. I'll be deploying with the search effort."

"That's great," says Pepper after a few seconds of silence. Anything to fill the static between them.

("Christ, lighten up, you two," Tony would smirk. "Pussy got your tongue, Rhodey? Oh, Pepper, want me to show you what I mean?")

"It's only been a few days, Pepper." Jim says finally. "That's nothing. We'll find him."

"You would tell me if they-if the terrorists sent something, right?" says Pepper suddenly. "You would tell me if-if there was a video, or-or, a message, or something, right?"

Now that the thought has occurred to her, now that she has remembered that Jim is a military man, that he has to obey his superiors, she is suddenly terrified that she won't know if they find something.

"Of course I would," Jim snaps. "Tony has me and Obadiah listed as his next-of-kin, I think. I don't advertise it, but even if I'm instructed not to tell you something on a professional level, on a personal level I can tell you whatever the hell I want."

The relief she feels is like taking a deep breath after too long underwater. "Thanks Jim."

"Thank me when I find him," says Jim, his voice hard. "And I will. I will find him."

* * *

><p><strong>Afghanistan, National security, and Tony Stark major topics during debate<strong>

_By Thomas Clarkson_

_February 1, 2008_

LOS ANGELES, California - The most prominent Republican that featured in last night's debate at the Kodak Theater between Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) was not Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who won yesterday's Florida Republican presidential primary in a landslide victory over opponents Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. Nor was it President George W. Bush. Instead, Stark Industries CEO Anthony Stark was the catchphrase of the evening, each candidate using the billionaire businessman's January 27 abduction to frame their positions on national security.

"Senator Clinton and I agree on this," said Obama in a question about the War in Afghanistan. "The tragedy that happened last week serves to show exactly how much work still needs to be done in Afghanistan-work that has been neglected in favor of continued operations in Iraq. Mr. Stark along with twenty-four American servicemen and women were ambushed only twenty miles outside Jalalabad, a major US military position. Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida and its Taliban allies are still at large and very much able to operate."

Clinton later took the opportunity to take a jab at the Republican position on the war in Iraq. "It has been a nearly week since Mr. Stark was taken captive, yet Republicans on the Hill continue to call for more resources and money to be thrown at the war in Iraq. Another troop surge. How could it possibly be any clearer that the real fight is in Afghanistan? Last week, one of richest men in the world was taken captive by insurgents. Tony Stark was protected by the best military in the world, the military who had at their disposal the top-of-the-line weapons that he himself had provided to them. And he was abducted in the span of about twenty minutes. Afghanistan needs to be the priority. The security of this nation and of Americans needs to be the priority."

"The missing CEO and Chairman of Stark Industries has redefined the current discourse," leading political analyst James Gengras said on MSNBC following the debate. "The big issue was the economy. But out of nowhere, a billionaire gets plucked out of a Humvee, the stocks tank in response, and suddenly people don't care about the ramifications of a U.S. recession any more. There hasn't been a hotter national security issue since the invasion of Iraq in 2003."

Despite Clinton's assertion to the contrary, both parties are taking the Stark abduction seriously. In fact, most analysts have credited Senator McCain's unique perspective on the situation with his surprisingly decisive victory in Florida. "If I could say one thing to Tony right now," said McCain in a statement last week, "it would be this: don't give the bastards what they want, and don't give up."

Copyright © 2008, The Los Angeles Times

* * *

><p>"Thank you, Mr. Chabraja," says Pepper smoothly. "I appreciate the phone call. However, I do think it is a little too early for condolences, as Mr. Stark has been missing for barely a week," she adds.<p>

Her assistant is listening to the phone call. He leans against the door of her office, clipboard in hand, looking entirely uncertain of himself.

"If General Dynamics is determined to give a sympathy gift, then I would suggest a donation to one of Mr. Stark's preferred non-profit organizations," she continues. "Perhaps the World Wildlife Fund or Mr. Stark's personal charity, the Stark Science Scholarship Fund. Yes, thank you again, Mr. Chabraja."

Pepper hangs up the phone and stares at the receiver, seething. "Peter," she says grimly, "If one more CEO calls from a Stark Industries competitor to let me just how 'devastated' and how 'terribly sorry' they are about Tony, I want you to tell them to go fuck themselves."

Peter's eyes go wide. He's new on the job, only a few months, and Pepper suddenly remembers that he might take her seriously.

"I'm not serious," she says flatly, and in her mind she scorns the abject relief that she sees in his eyes.

"Um, yes, Ms. Potts. Of course."

It's a well-kept secret that Pepper goes through at least three assistants a year. Either they can't handle the job, or Tony sleeps with them, or Pepper fires them. What she would really like is just a clone of herself.

("I think it's charming, actually," said Tony once, with a grin. "The indomitable Pepper Potts, harsh taskmistress of her domain! Approach not, lest ye be judged incompetent... it's kind of a kinky image, Potts. By the way, I think you should hire another brunette. With glasses. And a world-class rack.")

"Ms. Potts-are you, um, are you doing okay?"

Peter's baby-smooth face and half-eager, half-afraid eyes is suddenly the most irritating thing Pepper can imagine. "Thank you, Mr. Hartley," she says coolly. "That's all I need for now."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Stark Industries to offer reward for CEO<strong>_

By ARNOLD DENTON

Published: February 4, 2008

INGLEWOOD, California - Stark Industries announced in a press conference today that it would provide a significant financial reward for any leads to CEO Anthony Stark's whereabouts. "The Stark Industries Board of Directors has decided to offer $10 million for information leading to the retrieval of Tony Stark," said Chief Financial Officer Peter Fontaine in prepared remarks. "The reward is contingent upon Tony's safe return."

"Tony has been a friend ever since I joined the company nine years ago," Mr. Fontaine continued. "He is a part of the Stark Industries family and is one of this generation's most brilliant minds. We miss him deeply and we as a company are praying daily that he will be found and returned to us."

The $10 million reward is a conservative figure by some estimates, particularly in consideration of the robust kidnapping insurance that all Stark Industries board members are required to have. Since the late nineties, the mercurial businessman has made frequent appearances in "World's Wealthiest" lists. In early January, Forbes Magazine estimated Mr. Stark's net worth at $30.8 billion, making the genius engineer cum infamous playboy the 8th richest man in the world.

Since the January 27 attack on the caravan of military vehicles that was escorting Mr. Stark back to Jalalabad Airport, no group has come forward to take responsibility for his abduction. Top military officials have also revealed that no ransom demands have reached them.

"The Taliban and al-Qaeda are the most likely perpetrators, obviously," said terrorism expert Dr. John Linderman of UCLA. "The so-called 'Merchant of Death' is just as famous in the Middle East as in the United States. It may be that a routine insurgent operation happened to strike the protective convoy, and Mr. Stark happened to be recognized. In this situation, there's no financial incentive for the group that has him. Neither the Taliban nor al-Qaeda has the resources to play out a successful ransom scenario."

When asked what that meant for Mr. Stark, Dr. Linderman shook his head. "Unfortunately, the most likely scenario here would be another Daniel Pearl situation. The murder of a high-profile captive like Tony Stark would provide exactly the kind of notoriety on which these terrorist organizations thrive."

Not everyone agrees with Dr. Linderman's assessment. "Tony Stark is a genius," states Dr. Ahmed Patel, a former professor of Computer Science at MIT who taught Mr. Stark when he was just fifteen years old. "He is a man who programmed a world-class missile targeting system at sixteen. What terrorist group does not want to use that mind?"

Copyright © 2008, The New York Times

* * *

><p>The workshop feels empty. Dummy and You are charging, the fabrication shop is silent, the cars parked and untouched. The engine block of the roadster is just as he left it. Everything is as he left it.<p>

Despite all the stuff-and god knows, there is a lot of stuff-it still feels empty.

Pepper stares at the cavernous room and walks over to Tony's desk, where a fine film of dust has settled on old components, pens, a coffee mug, a few pictures. Three or four crumpled up napkins from Caesar's Palace would be trash but for the line drawings and dimensions and equations that he had scribbled on them eight days prior.

Pepper sits down on the stool at his desk, setting down the bottle of wine and single glass that she had brought down with her. They had purchased this bottle of Bâtard-Montrachet together, after Tony had found out that she was an oenophile and proceeded to repurpose a basement room into a wine cellar.

("All the great men have them," he had announced airily one day out of the blue. "I don't drink wine myself, of course, but I'll need you to curate it, Potts. I can't have a substandard collection. And you'll need to taste them, too, to make sure they're good. I'll make JARVIS tell if you don't.")

Like the art collection, like the rare books, this was for her. It was Tony's way of giving outlandish gifts to her that she couldn't refuse. The first time he'd ever been to her apartment and seen the array of modern art prints on the walls, he'd gotten the look in his eye that she now knew to watch out for, but back then she hadn't even noticed. Two weeks later, he had told her he wanted some art.

("New art," he'd said abruptly over Thai takeout. "Some, ah, Picasso or something. You know, modern stuff. Like the guy who paints with dots and cut off his ear. I need it. I love it. Take care of it for me.")

Pepper stares at the bottle. It is a 1992 vintage, and they had bought it when they'd been in Paris for a technical conference-a conference which he'd gotten out of the moment his own speech was done and instead taken her to a specialty wine shop on the Rue des Archives in the Hôtel-de-Ville arrondissement.

("I like this one," he'd said, pointing at a _Grand Cru _bottle. "Cool label." He'd turned to the shop owner, who had looked scandalized, and said, "Une dégustation de vin pour la mademoiselle, s'il vous plaît. Rien de tout pour moi, je n'aime pas le vin.")

They'd left the shop with three cases of wine in the trunk of the Bentley that Stark Industries Paris had assigned them, and Pepper a little tipsy-she should have spat out the wine after each tasting, but Tony had wrinkled his nose and told her to knock it off after the first time she'd tried it.

("What do you think, Potts?" Tony had asked her in the car, grinning. Of the wine? she'd asked. "Yes, you know, specific kinds of grapes that they stomp on and let ferment until some sap decides they're worth about ₣20 million. Good for our collection?")

Pepper uncorks the bottle and pours a third of a glass. She had brought the wrong kind of glassware for a Chardonnay, but she can't find it within herself to care.

"Cheers," she murmurs into the silence as she tips the glass back. Her voice is loud in the workshop, but it doesn't echo. There is too much stuff for that. But it still feels empty.

* * *

><p><strong>Stark Industries investors relieved as Stane takes top job<strong>

_By Martin Reaver_

February 14, 2008

NEW YORK, New York - Stark Industries (SIA) formally announced Thursday morning that longtime Chief Operating Officer Obadiah Stane would become interim CEO effective immediately. It's a move that financial experts have anticipated since the abduction of wunderkind Anthony Stark late in January, but one that the Stark Industries Board of Directors has hesitated to make.

"After a great deal of deliberation," said CFO Peter Fontaine in a statement released before the market opened today, "the Board of Directors has unanimously decided that it is in the company's best interest to appoint Obadiah Stane as interim CEO. It is our responsibility to ensure that Tony's company is in good hands in his absence and we have every confidence that Obadiah will lead Stark Industries in the direction that Tony dreamed for us."

It's a sobering change of attitude from the endlessly optimistic CFO. Prior to the announcement, the company line was simple: "We believe that Tony will be found and returned to American soil by the great efforts of the men and women of the United States military." Yet nearly three weeks after the abduction, the trail has gone cold.

"I'm not sure we'll ever know what happened to Tony Stark," said a high-ranking military official in a comment to the WSJ. "There are no leads, no informants, no ransom notes, no messages at all from his captors. This late in the game, the chances that he's alive are probably nil. It's a tragedy, but that is the reality of the situation. The search effort has already slowed. I expect that [General Dan] McNeill will call off the search entirely in a few days."

Stane taking the reins injected some confidence into the flagging market on Tuesday. Last week on February 5 Stark Industries (SIA) dropped under 100 points for the first time in six years. By the closing bell today, however, the company ended at 121.03 (+23.50%, +23.03), marking its first significant gains since Stark went missing in January.

The improved performance was undoubtedly a result of Stane's appointment. "Staying in limbo was going to make the stocks plummet," said a Bear Stearns trader. "They had to stop the bleeding. They should have made Stane CEO the day it happened, but they were probably afraid that admitting Stark was dead would crash them. Stark was the technical brains, sure, but there are other geniuses in town. Stane's got the business sense to find them, and he will."

"No body has been found," said Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff last Friday. "We'll keep looking until we find him. Stark never served in the military, but he and his family have been the United States Armed Forces' greatest allies since World War II, and it is not the practice of the United States to leave her allies behind."

Copyright © 2008, _The Wall Street Journal_

* * *

><p>"Ms. Potts, it is time to shift some of Tony's responsibilities elsewhere," says CFO Peter Fontaine. "As responsible executives, we must do some temporary restructuring."<p>

Despite having worked in the corporate world for over ten years, business euphemisms still grate on Pepper. 'Restructuring?' Distaste for the MBA lingo is one of the things that she shares with Tony, though she never admits to him that she enjoys his little rants about the latest go-to corporate buzz words.

("For Christ's sake, can we stop using the word 'synergy?' Seriously?" Tony had snapped out in the middle of a Board presentation. "The only 'synergy' I want to hear about is mixing Valium and scotch, because that's what I'm going to need if I keep hearing that fucking word.")

"I've already had several meetings with Stephan," Pepper says instead. "As the Vice President of Research and Development, he seems to be the best choice to temporarily assume some of the duties that Mr. Stark handles that would normally be managed by a CTO."

"Excellent," says Fontaine. "I agree. That would be my choice as well. I know you've been off-loading some items over to Obadiah, which is excellent. If you would send me a list of those things offline, that would be great."

("'Offline?' Where do they come up with this bullshit? We're not robots. I'm going to start calling him Fountain, because all he does is spout out the management keywords he learned at Stanford Business School. 'Going forward!' 'ROI!' I'm going to 'table' his entire job one of these days.")

After a few more minutes of mindless 'restructuring' chatter, Pepper finally hangs up the phone. She had already made all of the changes they had discussed a week and a half ago. That's why Tony pays her to run his company, and that's why he listens to her instead of attending Board of Directors meetings.

She leans back in her chair and takes a deep breath. Tony has been gone now for eighteen days. Eighteen days without a modicum of success. Jim still calls her daily, but every time she speaks to him, all she can hear is the desperation and disappointment and the hopelessness in his voice.

"Ms. Potts, I have Mr. Hammer on the phone for you, um, again."

Pepper sits forward to look at her assistant. He still hasn't lost the eager puppy demeanor, and it's been four months since she hired him. "Mr. Hartley, I am not available to speak with that man. I do not care if it's a 'stunning' job opportunity. You may tell him that I don't appreciate the harassment, and that if he calls here one more time, I will personally send him a pallet of ten penny nails that he can hammer up his ass, because that will be a lot less painful than the lawsuit I'll file if he calls again."

Peter stares at her and nods once. "Yes ma'am."

("Well done! And so imaginative!" Tony would crow. "It's times like these when I remember why I hired you. Can I give you another raise?")

Pepper stands abruptly, breathing harshly in the quiet of her office. Everyone is giving up, she realizes. The Board is giving up. Obadiah is giving up. The entire world is giving up. That's why she has a stack of cover letters on her desk, all introduction letters from headhunters across the country trying to lure her away from Stark Industries.

Because they think that she is giving up, too.

Pepper grabs her keys and her bag, and marches out of the door. She'll take a drive. She'll go to his house. Anywhere but here.

* * *

><p><strong>Notes<strong>

**Languages**

French: Une dégustation de vin pour la mademoiselle, s'il vous plaît. Rien de tout pour moi, je n'aime pas le vin. (A wine tasting for the miss, please. Nothing for me, I don't like wine.)

**People**

Most of the people mentioned in this chapter are real. The jobs and positions mentioned in the text are those they had during this time period. A full list:

**Mr. Dell** (Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Inc.); **Swanson** (William H. Swanson, CEO of Raytheon Company); **Stevens** (Robert Stevens, CEO of Lockheed Martin), **Kubasik** (Christopher Kubasik, Executive Vice President of the Electronic Systems Business Area of Lockheed Martin); **Terry Gross** (NPR reporter who hosts "Fresh Air"); **General Dan McNeill **(International Security Assistance Force commander); **Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal** (JSOC commander; now infamous for disparaging comments made about Pres. Obama in 2010); **Lieutenant General Michael W. Wooley **(AFSOC commander); **Mr. Cabraja **(Nicholas Cabraja, CEO of General Dynamics Corporation); **Daniel Pearl** (journalist captured by al-Qaeda in Pakistan in 2002, later beheaded); **Admiral Mike Mullen **(Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff).

**Places**

All international locations mentioned are real. A full list:

Afghanistan: Kunar Province, Craig Joint Theater Hospital, Jalalabad, Bagram Air Base, Nangahar Province, Province, Kandahar, Kandahar Air Base, Kandahar Combat Hospital.

France: Rue des Archives in the Hôtel-de-Ville arrondissement, Paris.

**Events**

January 21, 2008 - The Indian stock market crashed by over 1400 points, which became known as "Black Monday."

January 30, 2008 - A debate between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton did take place on this date in Los Angeles in the Kodak Theatre, but it focused primarily on health care and the economy rather than national security. Sen. John McCain did win the Florida primary, but not as decisively as I portrayed in the story.

February 5, 2008 - Known as "Super Tuesday" because of the large number of presidential primaries that took place on this day. It was also a pretty bad day for the U.S. stock market, with both the Dow and the Nasdaq at around -3%.

**Miscellaneous**

The Orion Spacecraft was designed by Lockheed Martin for NASA for use in the Constellation program, which was supposed to have replaced the Space Shuttle Program but was shut down in 2010.

Bâtard-Montrachet is an AOC vineyard that produces only Chardonnay. AOC is a cultural preservation system instituted by the French government that designates what foods and wines may call themselves. For example, any vineyard could make champagne, but it's not officially Champagne unless it was produced at a vineyard in the Champagne region of France and adheres to a very specific set of standards.

In 2008, Forbes Magazine listed KP Singh at the 8th Richest Person in the World with a fortune of approximately $30.0 billion. The 7th richest was Ingvar Kamprad & family, worth $31.0 billion.

"The guy who paints with dots" was Georges Seurat, but he did not cut off his ear. That was Vincent Van Gogh.


	2. Chapter 2

**II.**

**Stark search effort put on hold**

By GEORGE HAVERHILL

Published: February 24, 2008

FORT BRAGG, North Carolina - A month after the capture of billionaire Anthony Stark, the dogs are getting called off.

In a rare public statement, the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal said this morning, "The United States Armed Forces are not quitting the search effort." JSOC, an elite group comprised of special forces operators from all branches of the military, has reportedly codenamed the recovery effort 'Operation Malibu' after the location of Mr. Stark's famous estate.

Lt. Gen. McChrystal continued, "At this time, however, the search for Mr. Stark will be redefined and further specialized. No additional large-scale involvement is needed."

When asked if that meant they had any new leads, Lt. Gen. McChrystal grew visibly agitated. "That is classified information."

The outlook is not optimistic. Secretary of the Army Pete Geren was recorded discussing the situation at a fundraiser last week. "I hate to say it, but the chances that further operations will succeed now that there are even fewer leads, now that we're a month out from the event... it's not going to happen. Stark is dead. If he's in the hands of terrorists, then a video will show up in a few months dated January 28 showing him getting beheaded. That's it, period."

When the statement hit the news stations, Secretary Geren immediately redacted his comments. "My insensitive words came from a moment of frustration," he said via prepared remarks. "I have every hope that Mr. Stark will be recovered, and I sincerely apologize if my words hurt his friends and family."

"The prayers of the nation are with Tony Stark," said President George W. Bush in an unprepared comment following a routine press conference. Mr. Bush, who attended Yale University at the same time as Mr. Stark's mother Maria Stark, is a personal friend to the Stark family. "And if Tony is no longer with us, then I know he is with his beloved parents."

At this time, none of Stark's friends or associates have moved to have Mr. Stark declared dead in absentia. Mr. Stark's godfather and interim Stark Industries CEO Obadiah Stane refuses to discuss it. "It's been a month," snapped the businessman during a press briefing about Stark Industries' infant space program. "There has been-and will be-no discussion of that."

Mr. Stane is listed as Mr. Stark's next-of-kin. The decision to have Stark declared legally dead will most likely remain with him.

Copyright © 2008, The New York Times

* * *

><p>"I mean, I can't believe someone I slept with is like, a prisoner of war now," says the socialite in a stage whisper. "It's so crazy. I've been talking to my therapist you know, because it's just like, incredibly traumatic."<p>

"Oh, honey," says another, "I'm sure it is. I mean, you knew him, and now he's like... I mean, what if he's being like, tortured?"

Pepper is trapped. The piano is to her right, the bar in front of her, and the three bimbos are to her left, and she knows that if she turns and leaves, they'll see both her and the sudden tears in her eyes.

"It'll be a good distraction, Ms. Potts," Obadiah had said firmly this afternoon. "You need to make an appearance, for the company's sake. You're a reminder that everything is under control."

"I mean, isn't it like, a little morbid that we're all here, at this party for his foundation or whatever, and he's like, kidnapped?" The grating voice of a very blonde Australian surfer-turned-model. Pepper remembered her; Tony had gone through an Australian kink a few years prior.

("Correlation isn't causation, Potts," Tony would chide her. "It wasn't a kink, per se... I was gathering data.")

"Seriously, I was thinking, like, the exact same thing," said the second girl. "It's just, like, so sad. I mean, I heard that the Army is like, totally giving up."

"I heard that they got a video," said the first girl conspiratorially. "It's like that journalist guy, remember? I heard that they got a video of Tony getting his like, head chopped off, and the military is keeping it really quiet, because the whole thing is like, so embarrassing."

Pepper's heart is pounding. She knows what they're saying is wrong, knows that there hasn't been a video-god, Jim would have told her-he had called her earlier, promised that they were still looking-

She stares at the martini in her hands and suddenly drains it. Part of her wonders if the gin and vermouth will drown out the conversation. The other part of her wants to self-medicate. She wants to order a scotch because if she places it beside her drink, then it will feel like she's just holding it for Tony.

"Oh my god," says the Australian in a whisper that carries just as easily as her normal decibel. "Isn't that like, Pepper Potts? Like, his assistant?"

"She's such a bitch," whispers the socialite. "She like, kicked me out of the mansion. I didn't even get to say goodbye to Tony, and we like, had a real connection."

That's her cue. Pepper sets the martini glass down on the bar and turns to the three women with a practiced and blank smile. "Ladies, thank you for attending the benefit tonight. Please do have a pleasant evening."

She slips away, her mouth dry despite the alcohol and the tang of the olive, and strides across the dance floor and out into the night.

* * *

><p><strong>McCain wins nomination, talks War on Terror, Tony Stark<strong>

_By Benjamin Whitman_

March 5, 2008

WASHINGTON, D.C. - "I am honored to accept the Republican nomination for President of the United States," began Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) in a press conference held in the Capitol. "My friends, we live in a difficult time. As a nation we are faced with economic and national security challenges unlike any we have seen before. We must stay the course in Iraq and Afghanistan."

"I met Tony Stark for the first time a few years ago," McCain continued. "He was two hours late to a meeting with the Committee of the Armed Forces to discuss Stark Industries Research & Development projects. He brought with him five or six of what his assistant called 'Apology 'Bots,' which were these amazing new military robots, and each of them held a bottle of the '73 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay in their pincers. Senator Levin said, 'Tony, all you needed to do was send us a note,' and Tony grinned and said: 'Carl, I'm an American. I don't do anything halfway.'"

McCain smiled somberly at the anecdote. "My friends, Tony got it right. We must prevail in Afghanistan and Iraq, and this will be the focus of my presidential campaign."

Tony Stark has become a touchstone for the Democratic and Republican nominees since his disappearance in Afghanistan on January 27 of this year. Initial search efforts for the billionaire weapons manufacturer proved fruitless, and over the past two weeks resources have been diverted and the operation reassigned to the Joint Special Operations Command based out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

The Stark scion has many friends in Washington, but not even sixty years of history between his family and the Washington political machine can produce enough goodwill to keep an entire task force running on fumes. But the politicians aren't Stark's only allies.

"Stark saved my life," says Army Captain Timothy Pohlinjiuk, home on medical leave from his third tour in Afghanistan. The soldier has a Purple Heart from each deployment. Originally from Glendale, Arizona, Pohlinjiuk attended the McCain press conference to meet his home state senator and Republican presidential nominee for a photo opportunity. "I was wearing the body armor Stark designed," Pohlinjiuk explained. "Tougher than Kevlar and about 70% lighter. I would have been dead if not for that armor. Those vests saved a bunch of my buddies who are still over there, too. It's only been six weeks. There's no way the guys in the 'Stan are giving up on Stark."

Prior to his abduction, Stark was a divisive figure. He's been called a genius, a war profiteer, a playboy, and most famously the 'Merchant of Death,' a throwback to Alfred E. Nobel who bore the same unfortunate moniker until funding Nobel Prizes to improve his image. Since the attack in January that made him one of the few American civilians captured in the War on Terror, Stark has become a dynamic and sympathetic figure on the political stage. McCain spoke about Stark again at the end of his speech. "I still haven't opened that bottle of Chardonnay," he commented. "I'll open it when Tony gets back."

Copyright © 2008, _The Washington Post_

* * *

><p>"Hi, You," says Pepper quietly as she sits down on the couch of the workshop's living area. She has brought her laptop and her dinner down to the basement. The upstairs is quiet but for the waterfall and she finds that sitting at her customary spot at the kitchen counter isn't quite the same when ACDC isn't blaring up from the shop.

The robot rolls over to her obediently, awaiting instructions. Pepper wonders idly if the robots get bored without their creator to verbally abuse them.

"You up, JARVIS?"

"Yes, Ms. Potts," the AI replied promptly. "What can I do for you?"

Pepper is struck by an idea. She digs into the bag she had carried down with her and retrieves a somewhat misshapen coin.

("Just a piece of metal, Potts, not a big deal," Tony had said with a grin, spinning the literally too-precious-to-be-handled coin on her desktop. "Happy and I decided to use it when we were doing a little precision driving this afternoon.")

The coin is an 1804 silver dollar, a coin that had been worth actual millions of dollars until Tony had flattened it with the Tesla.

("Here, have it. My gift to you. Don't spend it all in one place.")

"JARVIS, can you have the bots hammer and drill this into a ring, please?"

There's a two-second pause. "Certainly, Ms. Potts. What size ring would you prefer?"

Pepper looks down at her own hands. "Six, please."

"Commencing fabrication process. Estimated completion time, thirty minutes."

"Would you mind slowing it down a little, JARVIS? I'm going to be up for a while, I don't mind the noise."

"Of course, Ms. Potts. I will set the process at quarter-time."

"Thank you," says Pepper after a moment, handing off the scorched and misshapen coin to You, who reaches out and plucks it out of her fingers with surprising dexterity and a few beeps.

("I told you, I was inspired by R2-D2. I was going to have him talk in binary and everything, but it just... took way too long.")

The shop rumbles to life. She finds the hum of the machines is comforting. Tony could be back there right now, keeping an eye on Dummy or maintaining the drill press or sulking because she vetoed Black Sabbath.

Pepper glances down at her dinner. She had picked up sushi and edamame before coming over, and looking at the spread she realizes that she had grabbed two sets of chopsticks instead of just one.

Something goes cold inside her chest and she suddenly doesn't feel like eating very much at all.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Not responsible for Stark abduction, al-Qaeda claims<strong>_

By JAMES KEEGAN

Published: March 27, 2008

BAGRAM, Afghanistan - The video is only one minute, twenty-four seconds long, but it takes just twenty seconds to fuel the fires of conspiracy that surround the disappearance of Anthony Stark.

"By the grace of Allah," says a masked man, speaking first in Arabic and then repeating his words in Pashto, "The bones of the murdering, godless infidel Tony Stark are rotting, his body corrupted by the Western hedonism and filth that he embraced. Al- Qaeda rejoices in our knowledge that the capture of Tony Stark was Allah's divine justice, the punishment for those who pit themselves against Allah and His followers. Al-Qaeda wishes only to have murdered the unbeliever, to cut off his hands and his feet and leave his body for the unclean creatures to devour. But al-Qaeda does not have Tony Stark, and rejoices daily that the murderer is burning in one thousand hells, for one thousand lifetimes."

The video also shows clips of insurgents training in unmarked caves and is similar to footage released in the past. But the comments about Anthony Stark are the focus of the video, and if true, the revelation is shocking. Al-Qaeda and its Taliban allies has thus far been the primary suspects in the capture of the missing billionaire. For a terrorist organization like al-Qaeda to admit that no, they did not have a hand in one of the most high-profile events of the entire Afghanistan War is downright bizarre, and leads to more even more questions.

"No group has taken responsibility," said CNN contributor Stacy Pynchon. "And now al-Qaeda comes out and admits they don't have him either. What happened to Tony Stark? Could the terrorist angle just be a front? Could the abduction in Afghanistan have been a red herring?"

The idea of a 'Citizen Stark' scenario is outlandish, but provocative. There are many more questions than answers. Why did Stark leave the testing site before the generals he went to the Kunar province to see? Was it a planned attack that targeted Stark specifically?

"I don't care why, who, or what at this point," said Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, military liaison to Stark Industries and a friend of over twenty years to Mr. Stark. "All I care is where he is and when we can get him back."

Lt. Col. Rhodes requested special permission from the Pentagon and the Air Force Special Operations Command to stay in Afghanistan and continue the search alongside the task force assigned by the Joint Special Operations Command. An Air Force ROTC graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Class of 1990), Lt. Col. Rhodes was roommates with Mr. Stark for two years and is the billionaire's oldest friend. His dogged persistence has kept the Air Force-led search effort alive over the past four weeks despite increasing resistance from his superiors.

"So al-Qaeda doesn't have him," said Lt. Col. Rhodes, sounding unimpressed. "We already knew that. A very different video would have hit CNN back in January if al-Qaeda had him. All this means is that Tony is still out there, and I'm going to find him."

Stark Industries interim CEO Obadiah Stane had only a brief comment. "I have known Rhodes since he and Tony were at school," said the man who is also Mr. Stark's godfather. "I have every confidence in him."

Jane Coupling and Brandon Murphy contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2008, The New York Times

* * *

><p>"Pepper, I'd like you to be my assistant," says Obadiah thoughtfully. They're in his office, and Pepper had dropped by over lunch to drop off two vendor contracts that had been sent to Tony's office by mistake.<p>

The words hang there and Pepper wonders if maybe she misheard, or maybe it's a joke...?

"I'm serious," said the interim CEO. "It's been two months. I'm just thinking about your future."

Pepper finds herself twisting the ring on her index finger, the ring made from Tony's folly and by Tony's robots. "Mr. Stane, I'm flattered, but..."

"You're invaluable," Obadiah interrupts. "Don't think I don't realize that I have you to thank for practically every good decision Tony made over the past ten years. I don't want a headhunter to get you."

"That's exaggeration, Mr. Stane," said Pepper quickly, the thump-thump of her pulse beginning to pick up speed in her ears. "But, I... Sir, I think it's premature to discuss alternate working situations at this time."

Obadiah stares at her intently for a few moments, and there's something in his eyes then that makes her a little uncomfortable in a way that all of Tony's inappropriate jokes and barely-disguised leers never did.

"Of course," the interim CEO says after a moment. "Yes, of course you're right. Your loyalty is admirable, Ms. Potts."

Pepper nods. "Is there anything else, Mr. Stane?"

He looks away, reaches for the cigar box on his desk and retrieves an Altadis' Behike and a gold-plated guillotine cigar cutter. "That's all," he says after a moment. "Thank you."

Pepper leaves his office feeling unsettled. It's not until she sits down at her own desk that she realizes why. If Tony never returns-if one day they take his name off the side of the building, or they remove the "interim" from Obadiah's title, that day will be her last.

* * *

><p><strong>'We won't give up on Stark,' searchers say<strong>

By Perry Moynihan

April 14, 2008

ASADABAD, Afghanistan - The task force that mobilized in January with over 200 soldiers, airmen, and marines has dwindled down to about 30. Comprised of Special Forces operators from the Army, Navy, and Air Force, the men now assigned to find Tony Stark are the best of the best.

"What is it that Kranz says in 'Apollo 13?'" asks an anonymous Pararescue Jumper ("PJ"), a member of the Air Force's most elite Special Forces. "He says 'failure is not an option.' We've got no body, no video, no anything. We're not giving up."

Air Force Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes echoes his men's conviction. "I've known Tony since he was fourteen," says the man whose day job is military liaison to Stark Industries. "He's my best friend. I will not give up on him."

In the sixty-five days since Stark went missing during an insurgent attack on his military convoy, the initial optimism that he would be recovered has gradually disappeared.

"It's a lost cause," says an executive at Stark Industries, who commented under a condition of anonymity. "We all know it. At some point we have to live in the real world."

"The thing is, no one really has any idea what happened to him," says a sergeant with a Ranger tab on his shoulder. "Maybe he escaped and he's living off the land. Maybe he built himself some kind of crazy weapon or something. Who knows? Stark builds bombs for a living, for Christ's sake. Stranger things have happened."

Could Tony Stark have survived the harsh Afghan winter with just his wits and the clothes off his back (reportedly, a $7,500 navy pinstripe Fioravanti)? Could he have sustained himself like a modern-day Robinson Crusoe?

"No," says former SEAL and Gulf War veteran Marshall Donner, who served from 1989-1997. "It's just not possible," he adds flatly. "The best training in the world doesn't keep you alive in Afghanistan for two months, and definitely not when you're worth a billion dollars and you were born with ten silver spoons in your mouth. Sorry."

Perhaps it is foolishly romantic to imagine Tony Stark living in the Afghan wild, using whatever tools available to him á la an episode of "MacGyver." But the idea is infectious. Over the past two months, websites and forums devoted to Stark have cropped up, with members claiming to have spotted Stark all over the world. One such website is "Where in the World is Tony Stark?" (), which collects these stories.

"My brother is stationed in Japan," a poster named 'StarkMad' insists. "He was on leave in Okinawa and he saw this guy in a really slick suit, wearing sunglasses and he had Stark's goatee. These Japanese tourists were surrounding him, and the guy grinned and then walked off as soon as he saw my brother looking. My brother says it was definitely Tony."

Stark has become something of a cause célèbre among conspiracy theorists. "They just found a huge mass grave in Mazar-i-Sharif," writes a post on , a conspiracy website. "It had like a hundred bodies that they supposedly haven't identified. Are we really supposed to believe that has nothing to do with Stark? Mazar-i-Sharif is only like, 250 miles away from where they want us to believe Stark was captured" (the grave in question was just discovered on April 12, 2008, and the bodies are assumed to be victims of the Taliban).

"If Stark is really dead-and that's a big 'if,'" says another anonymous commenter, "then it was definitely a hit. I would bet a million dollars that Raytheon or Hammer Industries or something put out a hit on him. I mean, it's barely a competition in the defense industry with Stark Industries in the mix. What better way to kill your competitor than to literally kill your competitor?"

The Special Forces operators get angry when they hear the theories. "Eleven airmen died in that attack, and at least eight more are still at Walter Reed," says a scruffy-faced soldier with no rank insignia or unit identifiers. "The airmen in that convoy did everything they could to protect Stark. And we're going to do everything we can to get him back."

Even if that means all they're seeking is a body? "Yes," says Lt. Col. Rhodes, who interrupts before the soldier can respond. to the question. "Even if Tony is gone," Rhodes continues. "I'll do whatever it takes to bring my friend home."

Copyright © 2008, The Los Angeles Times

* * *

><p>It's a Monday, and Pepper is in a bar.<p>

It's not the first time. As an integral part of Tony Stark's entourage, weekday barhopping is unavoidable. But it's eight o'clock on a Monday night, and she has no work to do and no boss to clean up after, and she's sitting on a bar stool like a sixty year old man who just got laid off.

"Want another, sweetheart?"

The bartender is a late twenty-something with artfully arranged hair and a lot of hemp bracelets. He doesn't recognize her, because she's wearing jeans and an old UCLA sweatshirt and she's never felt more pathetic.

("I'm glad you're dressed down, Pepper... but I gotta say, I was honestly hoping for something a little more Jean Harlow 'comfortable...'")

"No thank you," says Pepper, waiting one beat too long. "I'm fine."

"Yes, you are," says a male voice to her left that startles Pepper so badly she nearly spills what's left of her vodka cranberry.

She looks up to see a coed grinning at her, his Pepperdine tee shirt stretched a little too tightly over muscles she's pretty sure are grace á steroids.

"Can I buy you a drink? Of course I can," says the boy, flashing his Amex Black at her as he slides the card to the bartender to open a tab. "I'm Jeff, by the way."

("Classy," Tony would quip. "Poor guy. Credit cards are so passé.")

"I'm just leaving," says Pepper quickly, but it's too late, Amex Jeff has sat down beside her.

"So, you come here often?"

"Only when my boss is 7000 miles away in a cave somewhere," said Pepper flatly, standing up and pushing a twenty towards the bartender.

"Yeah, totally," says Jeff, nodding his head like he gets it. "I'm working on my master's, by the way," he continues. "I mean, academic work is so mentally draining. But for me, my boss is my mind. And he never goes on vacation, you know?"

("I can't wait to use that line someday," Tony would cackle. "That is a good line. That line will work. Pepper, would that line work on you? Be honest.")

"Yes, very difficult," Pepper agrees, waiting for the bartender to hand over her change.

"People don't really understand," Jeff continues. "Intelligence is a burden, you know? I have to do my part for society."

("I like this guy, Potts. I feel like he understands me. I can empathize with him. Hire him immediately.")

"So, have you read Nietzsche?"

"I think so, wasn't it on Oprah's Book Club?" Pepper responds brightly, eyes latching on to the bartender returning with her six dollars and change.

Jeff gives a hearty laugh. "Not quite. Nietzsche is a famous philosopher. I'm writing my thesis on him. You know, the Übermensch. Maybe I could show you sometime."

The bartender leaves her six bucks, Pepper leaves him a dollar, and then turns to Jeff. "Ihr habt den Weg vom Wurme zum Menschen gemacht, und vieles ist in euch noch Wurm," she says solemnly, and the small part of her that likes to pick wings off of flies rejoices in the startled expression in the boy's eyes.

("I'll show you my worm, all right," Tony would drawl at her. "Thus spake Stark.")

Jeff mumbles "nice German" right as he realizes that Pepper is leaving, and then gives her a sour look before turning away.

The walk to her car seems to take a long time, and in her jeans and scuffed Converse and hoodie, Pepper realizes that not just her boss is in a cave 7000 miles away. Something undefinable, some essential piece of her, is with Tony. And she is afraid she will never get it back.

* * *

><p><strong>Notes<strong>

**Languages**

German: Ihr habt den Weg vom Wurme zum Menschen gemacht, und vieles ist in euch noch Wurm. (You have made your way from worm to man, and much of you is still worm.) This is a famous quote from Nietzsche's _Thus Spake Zarathustra_.

**People**

Some of the people mentioned in this chapter are real. A full list below:

**Pete Geren **(Secretary of the Army); **Carl **(Carl Levin, senator and Chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee); **Alfred E. Nobel **(inventor of dynamite and the original "Merchant of Death"); **Kranz **(Gene Kranz, NASA flight director of Apollo 13); **Fioravanti **(William Fioravanti, a famous custom tailor in Manhattan);

**Events**

March 5, 2008 - Sen. John McCain did become the presumptive Republican presidential nominee on this date.

April 12, 2008 - A mass grave of Taliban victims really was discovered in Mazar-i-Sharif.

**Miscellaneous**

The 1973 Chardonnay from California vineyard Chateau Montelena is one of the most famous and most expensive vintages in the world. In 1976, it won a blind taste test competition against leading French wines which became known as the "Judgement of Paris."

The 1804 silver dollar is called the "King of Coins" by the Smithsonian.

"...to cut off his hands and his feet" refers to verse 5:33 of the Qu'ran, which states: "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter."

Altadis' Behike cigars are luxury cigars that cost around $450.00 each.


	3. Chapter 3

**III.**

**Anthony E. Stark, 1971-2008**

_Part One_

By Karl Schinzer

April 28, 2008

Born to Howard and Maria Stark in 1971, Anthony Edward Stark was special from the start. He built his first engine at six years old, his first computer at eight, and took his first solo flight in a Cessna 404 Titan at eleven. Four years later, he headed off to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where the young prodigy filed 13 patents and graduated _Summa cum laude_ at seventeen.

"Tony had a once-in-a-generation mind," said MIT professor Dr. Jacob Levine. "He understood innately how things worked, yes, but more importantly, he was an innovator. A creator. I've taught the brightest minds in the world for thirty years, but none of them could ever hold a candle to Tony. He was a real marvel."

Stark continued his study at MIT for two years after earning his bachelor's degree, pursuing dual master's degrees in aerospace engineering and applied physics. At nineteen, he submitted his thesis on theoretical applications of superconductors in space vehicle propulsion, an academic work that is now one of the most-cited works in its field.

Other than his astonishing academic achievements, relatively little was known about the young billionaire prior to his parents death (at that time, Stark's personal net worth was $4.32 billion; today, his estate is worth $30.8 billion). The loss of Howard and Maria Stark, however, sent the then twenty year-old prodigy into a self-destructive and widely-publicized year of scandalous and bizarre behavior. From December 1991 to October 1992, the Stark Industries heir found himself arrested five times for various offenses, though no charges were ever filed. His fast-living, hard-partying antics made him infamous, and by the time he turned twenty-one his legendary reputation as a playboy far outshone the scientific brilliance that had set him apart at MIT.

"He really turned into a different guy after his parents passed away," says MIT classmate Matthew Singh, who now works at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "He was a bit of a ladies' man in his last year at MIT, sure, but nothing like what he was after they died. He had always been pretty shy, even a little standoffish. He really only had a couple of friends. I guess we all figured that growing up so isolated and so smart made interacting with other kids tough. He was only fifteen. There were a lot of smart people there, but he was just... man, he was scary smart."

Singh's picture fits with Stark's behavior once he took the top job at the company that his father had There were a lot of smart people there, but he was just... man, he was scary smart."

Singh's picture fits with Stark's behavior once he took the top job at the company that his father built. Despite the ever-growing periphery of models, celebrities, and high-society socialites around him, Stark had very few constants in his life. One of those was James Rhodes, former roommate at MIT and current military liaison to Stark Industries (Rhodes is now a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force). Another was his godfather Obadiah Stane, whom the Board of Directors appointed interim CEO of Stark Industries in March.

"Tony called him 'Obie,'" reveals Janet Dzioba, a post-doctoral fellow at CalTech who also went to MIT with Stark. "Mr. Stane visited at least once a month, and would take a bunch of us out to dinner or something to talk about the projects we were working on, and give us ideas on how to apply them to the business world. I always got the feeling that he was more of a dad to Tony than Tony's actual father was. I think I met Mr. Stark once for about five minutes at graduation, maybe. Tony didn't really talk about him much."

A Vietnam veteran, Obadiah Stane met Howard Stark when the famous aviator gave the 1967 commencement speech at Harvard University. Stane had attained a dual degree in Business Administration and Finance in only three years after he was medically discharged from the Air Force in 1964. Howard Stark's biography quotes Stane's first words to the industry magnate as, "You're running your company into the ground, but I can fix it."

Stane became an integral part of Stark Industries and of the Stark family; in 1971 he was named godfather to Howard's young son and has served the company as Chief Financial Officer, interim CEO, and Chief Operating Officer. Today, he is Mr. Stark's next-of-kin.

"Stane had a much bigger influence on Howard and on Tony than most realize," former Stark Industries Vice President of Operations Vincent Markwaithe comments. "Part of Howard's problem before he met Obadiah was that he was trying to go in too many directions with the company. Obadiah made him see sense, made him focus on defense and aviation. Most people credit Howard with ushering in the era of the military-industrial corporation, but it was Stane's doing, through and through. And Tony grew up in that culture, which informed his entire career at Stark Industries."

"Tony grew up hearing about his father's involvement in World War II, in the Manhattan Project," Howard Stark biographer Stanley Gerrault says. "I think that he was trying to reach that level for himself, trying to come up with something as big as the Manhattan Project so that he could measure up against his father. What most people don't realize is that while Stark was an excellent physicist, he wasn't anywhere close to Tony. The son was brilliant because of Maria."

Maria Stark née Carbonell (1946-1991) was a prodigy herself. She attended Wellesley on scholarship at the age of sixteen and studied mathematics and piano performance before going on to Yale University in 1965. In 1968, she completed her doctoral thesis on arithmetic combinatorics at twenty-two. The next year, she met Howard Stark (then forty-nine) through a mutual acquaintance and married him in 1970. Tony was born the following year.

"Mrs. Stark was wonderful," Janet Dzioba says. "She actually lived in Cambridge for Tony's first year, I think. She used to meet us for lunch, and I remember she helped me and Larry Belvedere (now a professor of Materials Science at the University of Michigan) with discrete algebra. Tony could have told us what to do in his sleep, but Mrs. Stark showed us _how_. She was just extraordinarily brilliant."

The vast differences between Howard and Maria explain a great deal about their son. His mind was advanced far beyond his years and yet in other ways grossly immature. He was a witty and charming egotist, yet had difficulty retaining close friends. He was a genius engineer and motivated scientist, but whimsical and inconsistent to the point of exasperating his Board of Directors more times than anyone could count. He treated all women like Playmates, yet he employed a female assistant for He was a genius engineer and motivated scientist, but whimsical and inconsistent to the point of exasperating his Board of Directors more times than anyone could count. He treated all women like Playmates, yet he employed a female assistant for nearly ten years and trusted her to run his life.

The enigmatic Virginia "Pepper" Potts is the second woman to have a permanent place in Tony Stark's life after his mother Maria. Tony met Potts shortly before his twenty-sixth birthday and his fifth anniversary as CEO of Stark Industries. By then, the revolving door of blonde, brunette, and redhead personal assistants had become a running joke at the company water cooler and an ongoing headache for the Stark Industries legal department (From a leaked company memo in 1994: "Q: What do you call twenty pairs of legs and forty bags of silicone? A: Tony's backlog of sexual harassment suits...from the first quarter.").

Tony met Potts at a charity benefit for the World Wildlife Fund. As the story goes, Tony propositioned Potts, who turned him down flat. Tony then lost a debate with the UCLA graduate that ended in a $1 million donation to the WWF from him and a job offer for her-but Potts again rejected him.

"Oh, that was a funny time," recalls Mr. Markwaithe with a chuckle. "Tony sent that woman cards, flowers, receipts for more donations to the WWF-I believe the total ended up around $4 million-all asking her to work for him. I think it took him six months, but she finally agreed."

Pepper Potts was added to the Stark Industries payroll in April of 1998, where she quickly gained a reputation as a shrewd businesswoman and an efficient assistant. "If you needed Mr. Stark to actually see something, you went through Pepper," says engineer Robert Corby, who worked in Research and Development in the Stark Industries robotics group from 1993 to 2001. "My team worked on a project for two years and tried to get it in front of the boss," Corby explains. "Finally, in late '98, Pepper walked into my lab to ask me why I hadn't done anything with it. Two weeks later, I got to present it to the Board of Directors. A year after that, my project was in production and in use." With Tony Stark's assistance, Corby's project became the Stark Industries TALON robots, a line of military robots used for everything from bomb disposal to reconnaissance.

"Pepper has an eye for ideas," agrees thirty-year employee Bridget Vangor, a patent attorney in the Stark Industries legal department. "I don't know how she did it, but the moment Pepper came on board, she was able to _focus_ Mr. Stark. Not that he was suddenly on time to meetings or that he stopped living in the fast lane, but in terms of productivity-well, let me just say this: I filed more patents from 1998 to 2008 than I did in my entire career prior to that point-by a factor of two. And that doesn't include the work I did for Tony privately, either."

Assistant, friend, caretaker, mistress, babysitter-these are all the names that Pepper Potts has been called over the past decade. And indeed, her inclusion in Tony Stark's small, immediate circle was unconventional, but it was her influence that ultimately helped to pave the way for the extraordinary last decade of Tony Stark's life. ❖

_To be continued._

Copyright © 2008 TIME Magazine

* * *

><p>"So, Gigi, how've you been holding up?" Barb's voice is light and her words fast-paced, as though it hadn't been months since she'd last made contact.<p>

"Barb," Pepper replies stupidly, so surprised to hear from her former foster sister that she doesn't have a coherent response.

("Gigi?" Tony would be delighted. "Your sister calls you _Gigi_?")

"Right in one, good work. I can see why they pay you the big bucks."

"What's going on? Why are you calling? Has something happened?"

Barb never calls just to shoot the shit; the girl who has been Pepper's 'sister' since they were both sixteen has zero tolerance for small talk, and she has never once called Pepper in the past six years unless it was to plead for a bailout.

"Relax, Gigi," Barb laughs at her. Her Worcester accent is more pronounced than ever. "I'm calling, you know, 'cause I haven't heard from you. You know, since your famous boss bit it."

("I like her," Tony would say with a smile. "'Bit it.' None of this 'passed away' bullshit.")

Something cold slides down between Pepper's shoulder blades, and she is suddenly outraged. "Barb, I'm working. What do you need?"

There's a heavy, dramatic sigh. "I swear to god, I'm just calling to see how you're doing. There've been all these articles lately, talking about you and Stark and how you were best friends or whatever, and I was like, jesus, I just thought you were like a secretary, not like, the sexy secret mistress."

Pepper knows exactly the articles Barbara is referring to. They've been everywhere: _"Stark and Potts: the dream team behind the meteoric success of Stark Industries since the year 2000."_; _"Pepper Potts: the extraordinary woman that was Stark's right hand."_ ; _"What's next for Pepper Potts?"_

("Funny, my right hand does like to pretend to be you. How do they know these things?")

"Mr. Stark is my boss, and that's it," Pepper says shortly. It's been harder lately to remember to talk about Tony in the present tense, and she has never felt more disappointed in herself. She's supposed to be the one who still believes. "They're still searching for him."

Barb barks out a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, just like Elvis is still walking around, and so is Kurt fucking Cobain. Christ, Gigi, you got it bad. I mean, it's been Obituary City lately. I just figured you'd be looking for another job by now."

"Well, I'm not."

There's a few seconds of silence. "I really was just calling to see how you are," Barb says after a moment. She's quieter, a little more sincere. "I didn't know... I didn't know if you were, like, really broken up about it."

The rare display of softness from her hard-ass foster sister is enough to crack the dam that Pepper has so carefully built around herself. She inhales deeply. "I... We weren't, you know, together," she explains lamely.

"I fucking hope not. Not with him sleeping with every set of legs and titties that come within a fifty mile radius."

"He's not really as bad as that," Pepper defends half-heartedly, and cringes. Has she ever sounded more pathetic?

Barb snorts. "Yeah, and you claim you stuck around for ten years because the job was fulfilling. Jesus, _Virginia_, you really were in love with the prick, weren't you?"

Her breath catches in her throat. "Barb, don't be ridiculous."

"I'll quit it if you will. I mean, at least be fucking honest with me. I'm not going to sell your dirty secrets to The Enquirer."

Pepper's heart stops dead. She's silent.

_She has never once called Pepper in the past six years unless it was to plead for a bailout._

"Barbara, you are unbelievable," she snaps after a heartbeat. "If I wanted to talk to the press, I would talk to the press. Send me an email with how much you need to keep from being evicted, and I don't want you to call me again."

"Gigi, it's not like that-I mean, the guy just wanted me to get a quote, you know, something juicy-" Barb is pleading, whining, and Pepper wants to scream.

"Goodbye, Barb," she bites out, and slams her handset down.

She's breathing rapidly, harshly, and she is just so _angry_ that Barbara fooled her, even for a few moments-when did she become so fucking predictable? Pepper's eyes sting. She hasn't cried in two months, and one call from her sister is going to make her tear up?

She reaches out for a glass of water and lifts it to her lips with a trembling hand. She's angry, but not at Barbara, not really.

_Jesus, _Virginia_. You really were in love with the prick, weren't you?_

Pepper's jaw clenches and her throat closes up and she is _furious_. "God damn it," she whispers into the silence of her apartment, and grabs at the pillow beside her on the sofa, pressing it to her chest.

* * *

><p><strong>STARK FOUND ALIVE<strong>

By JAMES KEEGAN

Published: April 30, 2008

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Stark Industries CEO Tony Stark was rescued at approximately 3:00 pm local time in a remote area of Afghanistan's Helmand Province, approximately 450 miles from the site of his abduction.

Missing for 94 days and presumed dead by most, Mr. Stark was spotted by an Air Force Pave Hawk helicopter in the Dashti Margo desert (literally, the "Desert of Death"). Local sources indicate that the billionaire arrived at the Kandahar Combat Hospital under heavy guard at approximately 3:45 pm. Mr. Stark's condition is unknown at this time.

Up until now, the search for Mr. Stark has reportedly been focused in the remote regions of the Kunar and Nangahar provinces, where the CEO's military escort came under fire on January 27. It is unknown what information may have come to light that precipitated the search and rescue effort by Special Forces operators in the Dashti Margo desert.

"We are pleased to announce that Anthony Stark is safely in American custody," said the Department of Defense in a statement. "The rescue is the result of outstanding work led by the Air Force Special Operations Command."

Very little has been confirmed about the circumstances of Mr. Stark's captivity. However, due to the Taliban's strong presence in the Helmand province where Mr. Stark was found, it appears likely that his abductors were Taliban insurgents.

"This is a shining hour of triumph for the United States military," the White House said in a press release once Stark's rescue was confirmed by the DOD. "We are proud of the American service members whose extraordinary efforts have returned Anthony Stark to the country he loves so much."

Kandahar Combat Hospital staff received notice of an inbound casualty at 3:20 pm. By the time the search & rescue helicopter arrived at the helipad outside the building, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit had been called in for reasons that are unclear at this time.

By 4:00 pm, news of the inbound casualty's identity had begun to spread throughout the base.

"I can safely speak for the entire Stark Industries family when I say that we are thrilled at this news," said Chief Financial Officer Peter Fontaine this morning. "We hope that Tony will heal swiftly after his terrible ordeal and we can offer only our tremendous gratitude to the superb work of the American soldiers who rescued him today."

Mr. Stark's executive office and Stark Industries interim CEO Obadiah Stane were unavailable for comment.

_Jane Coupling and Arnold Denton contributed to this report._

Copyright © 2008, The New York Times

* * *

><p>Pepper drinks loose-leaf Earl Grey. It's a habit she learned from her British expatriate grandfather, who cared for her from the time she was six to fourteen. She has a routine developed from years spent observing his careful, age-spotted hands prepare a tea service.<p>

When she was little, he would make her a cup of warm milk and add a dash of tea from his own mug. By ten, she had declared herself an adult and wanted to make her own.

"Can't let it steep too long, love," he instructed her in his soft voice as he poured boiling water from the antique copper kettle that Pepper had inherited from him after his death. "Don't want to drown it."

Over twenty years later, Pepper doesn't need to think as her hands move through the preparation, carefully measuring and spooning into the strainer, grabbing her mitt for the kettle. She inhales deeply the scent of bergamot and cornflower and rose, her mind automatically filing away notes on this new blend.

("This tastes like perfume," Tony had grimaced once after she'd made him a cup. "Seriously, I'm drowning in Chanel no. 87 or whatever it is. How can you drink this stuff? At least add some rum to mine.")

She almost doesn't hear her phone ring. But ten years of practice has trained her well.

("Uh, Potts, I need you to, ah, well, you see-I'm in Santa Fe. Can you bail me out please?")

It's early-only 5:15 in the morning. It's much too early for anyone in the office to call her.

Suspicion balls up in her chest and she sets down the kettle on the granite countertop, stepping over to her room to grab her BlackBerry.

It's on its fourth ring by the time she reaches it, and it's an unknown number. "Hello?"

"Pepper?"

Pepper doesn't collapse. She doesn't break down. She doesn't scream, or drop the phone, or fall to her knees.

Instead, she hears Tony's voice and her chest expands and there's at least three heartbeats between his "Pepper?" and her "_Tony_?" Her voice is soft, hesitant, and it breaks on the second syllable of his name.

"I'm okay, Potts, are you okay?"

He sounds exhausted and somehow tight; there's a hard edge to his voice, a thin layer of desperation and difficulty that she has never heard before, but he sounds _alive_.

And now she is crying, but silently; she can't help it and she hopes he can't hear how rough her voice is. "Tony-I don't-Tony, you're all right?"

She keeps babbling his name and half-formed questions until she hears him laugh a little, a laugh that gets cut abruptly short with a whoosh of air that sounds a lot like pain.

"I'm all right," he assures her. "Rhodey found me, and I'm okay. I just-I needed to call you first."

"Of course you did," Pepper says, trying to regain her composure as she speaks to this person who is Tony but also Not-Tony; the weariness and sincerity in his voice is a combination she has never heard from him before.

He's been weary and playful ("Gymnasts are so accomplished," he had commented one morning with a mock-yawn.). He's been sincere ("I'm only trying to reward you, Pepper," he had told her quietly after presenting her with a new car a few years prior. "I couldn't do any of this without you. It's just a reward, I promise.")

But this Not-Tony, this man who has been missing from her for three months, who is exhausted and in pain-she doesn't know what to say to him.

She swallows tightly. "I'll send you your things," she says finally, her voice wavering only slightly. "You'll need a suit for the return trip."

He doesn't respond for a moment. "Yeah, you're right about that," he says finally. "They're telling me I've gotta get off the phone. I wasn't technically supposed to call, but... well, I had to."

That strange note in his voice is still there, that odd hesitation and quietness.

"I'm so glad you did, Tony," she whispers back.

"See you soon."

The phone clicks, her Blackberry beeps, and Pepper goes to work.

* * *

><p><strong>Stark arrives in Germany<strong>

By Johan Schaeffer

2 May 2008

LANDSTUHL, Germany - Since 2001, the dark blue MPVs that transport wounded American servicemen from Ramstein Air Base to Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre have become familiar sights to the residents of Kaiserslautern, Germany. Many of the locals are members of the United States military themselves and have friends and family serving in a foreign theatre of war. The MPVs that carry the wounded are normally treated with reverence and solemnity; the vehicle that arrived in the late evening on 1 May was instead given a celebration.

"As soon as we heard the news, we knew that Stark would be coming to Ramstein," said RAF Flight Lieutenant Daniel Lipton. "Everyone wanted to welcome him back to the land of the living."

The 30 April rescue of American businessman Anthony Stark in Afghanistan came as a surprise to many. The headlines devoted to the missing MD of Stark International had grown increasingly pessimistic as search efforts proved unsuccessful. A world-class engineer whose estate is worth £15.68bn, Stark had been assumed dead.

"I think quite a lot of papers in the States even published his obituary," said Klaus Gottfried, a physician at St Johannis Hospital in Landstuhl who attended an impromptu welcome parade for Mr Stark. "I am not surprised. Who could have predicted that Stark would escape his captors and manage to survive in the desert? It is an impressive feat."

Details about Mr Stark's rescue are scarce. NATO commander General Dan McNeill said: "Mr Stark was found approximately sixty-five miles outside of Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province. He was alone and upright, but wounded and very dehydrated. United States Air Force Pararescuemen led by Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes retrieved Mr Stark at approximately 3:00 pm."

No information about Mr Stark's abductors has yet been revealed. The lack of braggadocio from insurgent groups in Afghanistan and elsewhere suggests that the usual suspects may not have been involved.

MP David Miliband said: "I shall not comment on the specific nature of Mr Stark's captivity, however I will say that I am quite pleased he is safely recovered. I have not seen Tony since we were at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology together, but I look forward to welcoming him back to civilization."

No NATO or United States officials have offered any information to explain the strange facts of the rescue. One of the most pressing questions is how did his abductors transport Mr Stark nearly 400 miles from Jalalabad, Afghanistan to the largely uninhabited region outside Lashkar Gah? The prevailing theory is that the travel took place in Pakistan, re-entering Afghanistan in the heavily Taliban-controlled Helmand Province.

High Commissioner of Pakistan to the United Kingdom Dr Maliha Lodhi said: "The rescue of Mr Anthony Stark is a great success against the terrorist action in Afghanistan. I offer my congratulations to Mr Stark and his family and friends."

When pressed for her thoughts on the unusual circumstances of Mr Stark's recovery, Dr Lodhi declined to comment.

Requests for comment to the press office of Landstuhl Regional Medical Centre commander Brigadier General Keith W. Gallagher were turned down.

_The Daily Telegraph_, 2008

* * *

><p>"Potts, you need to get me out of here." Tony's voice is low, frustrated. "I'm fine, but they're not letting me go. They've got me quarantined."<p>

Pepper swallows. "Tony, Jim told me that-"

"Told you what?" His tone is sharp. "What did he tell you?"

"He said that there were medical complications," says Pepper. "What's going on?" She is wary; tony is defensive, and it scares her. In ten years, she's only ever seen him get defensive on his father's behalf.

"Yeah, well," Tony mutters into the phone.

Something tightens in her gut. "That's not an answer," Pepper says coolly, and part of her is relieved that she still has her Assistant Voice, that the cool mask of professional words and professional voice isn't gone, but there's a knot in her stomach that she has never felt before. She is anxious; her pen beats out a rapid rat-a-tat on her desk and her foot bounces and she realizes that she is still afraid for him.

"There was shrapnel," Tony says abruptly. "In the attack. So I uh-there's a-I've got something in my chest. Like a pacemaker."

Pepper's mouth suddenly tastes like metal and she can feel her pulse speed up. "What-what do you mean? Tony, you said you were fine-"

"I am fine. Well, mostly fine. It's not exactly a pacemaker," he says quickly. "It's a, ah, it's kind of like a battery. Well, it was a battery. Now it's a reactor. But they thought it was a bomb, and it's not, but-"

"You have a _reactor_ in your chest? Like a-a _nuclear_ reactor?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Tony says easily to her. "It's not nuclear. Point is, I'm fine, but they think it's dangerous-"

"Tony, you have a _reactor_ in your chest! How did it get there? Are you okay? What is it doing?" Pepper is shrill, and she knows it, but she had believed Jim when he'd told her that Tony was fine, just a little banged up, and now it doesn't seem like he is.

"It's fine," he repeats, exasperated. "I'm fine, you're fine, we're all fine. It's fine. But they're not letting me leave, Pepper, and I need you to fix it. Fix it, please."

Millions of questions are still bubbling up in her chest, but Pepper tamps them down, grits her teeth, and takes a deep breath. "I'll take care of it."

A deep, heavy sigh. "Thank you."

Pepper exhales slowly. "Not a problem, Mr. Stark."

* * *

><p><strong>Stark on his way home<strong>

By BEATRICE WYSS

Published: May 5, 2008

LANDSTUHL, Germany - On January 27, a business trip meant to last for 36 hours turned into 100 days of captivity and struggle. After a miraculous escape from mysterious circumstances, Tony Stark is bound for home.

Mr. Stark wears a sling on his right shoulder and a few contusions on his face are now mostly healed. A haircut and a shave makes the haggard survivor look just a little bit more like the billionaire that disappeared over three months ago.

He wears a suit that hangs a bit more loosely than it used to along with an expression of mixed exhaustion and uncertainty-two things which are strange to see on the man whose trademark was his ego and his frenetic personality.

The walk across the tarmac is Tony Stark's first public appearance since his rescue in the desert sands of Afghanistan nearly a week ago. His office has refused all interview requests and no medical officers working with Mr. Stark at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center have spoken publicly. The only information about Stark's condition has come from the Department of Defense.

"Mr. Stark displayed extraordinary fortitude in the face of terrifying circumstances," said the Pentagon. "He suffered blast injuries in the initial attack and had suffered additional wounds when Air Force Pararescue Jumpers recovered him on April 30. None of Mr. Stark's injuries are life-threatening, and he is expected to make a full recovery."

But what about the injuries that are not so obvious as a bruise or a healing cut? What toll might Mr. Stark's captivity have taken on one of the world's most notorious billionaires? Is this Tony Stark the same man he was when he boarded his private jet three months ago?

"No," says renowned psychologist Dr. Arnold Lincoln, who specializes in post-traumatic stress disorder and provides care to veterans free of charge. "This type of experience changes a person. We know he was injured. He may have even been tortured. But physical wounds pale in comparison to the incredible psychological stress of captivity."

When pressed for details, Dr. Lincoln shook his head. "I won't diagnose Stark. He's a complex person and I've never had the chance to meet him. But I will say this-no one comes out of a situation like that unscathed."

Copyright © 2008, The New York Times

* * *

><p>The Santa Anas blow hot across the tarmac, ruffling her hair and stinging her eyes. Pepper had arrived at Edwards Air Force Base a full two hours in advance of the ETA. She can't help it; she is pathologically punctual in the best of times, but today is different. Today she is on edge in a way that she has never been before.<p>

She had spent the past two days juggling the ongoing media storm as well as calling in every favor she had banked with half of Congress.

("Senator McCain, Tony asked me to thank you for your support and to congratulate you on the nomination," she had said smoothly. "He's very frustrated about his detention in Ramstein. I understand these are unusual circumstances, but is there anything you can do to get the brass at the Pentagon to let Tony just come home?")

Last night, she'd gotten a call from Jim. "You are unbelievable," he had said admiringly. "I know you did it. How did you do it?"

She had only smiled into the receiver. "A good P.A. doesn't assist and tell, Jim."

The eye-roll was practically audible. "Hah, hah. And for the record, I'm also laughing at the fact that you still call yourself just Tony's 'personal assistant.' More like a genie."

Pepper had gotten a little uncomfortable. "So, did you get Happy and me clearance to pick him up at Edwards?"

"Yes, it's set," Jim had said. "I'll see you tomorrow, Pepper."

"Can I talk to Tony, please?"

There had been a moment of silence. "Well, he's sleeping."

Pepper hadn't missed the hesitant note in Rhodes' voice, the subtle touch of discomfort. She had known him well enough prior to Tony's abduction and she'd certainly spent enough time on the phone with him over the past three months that she could recognize the little pauses for what they were.

"It's... It's four in the afternoon where you are. Why is he sleeping? Is he all right?"

"Sixteen hundred, actually."

"Answer the question, Jim."

His sigh had blown static into the connection. "I haven't been able to spend enough time with him to really tell," Jim began uncomfortably. "But the medical staff has told me... He's sleeping erratically, Pepper. He sleeps for an hour at a time, maybe every eight or ten hours."

Pepper's throat had gotten tight. "Well, you know Tony," she'd said in a faux light-hearted tone. "He's always been a little nocturnal."

"It's not that. He's jumpy, he's not sleeping right... I just wanted to warn you," Jim had said quietly. "He hasn't told me anything about his captivity, but... this is strong evidence he was at least sleep-deprived. Good chance he was tortured, too. Just... be careful with him."

Pepper had known all of the awful possibilities from the beginning. She'd had dreams where Tony was beaten or starved or tied up. She'd prepared herself for him to be different. But Jim saying it out loud-

_Good chance he was tortured, too._

Pepper had shut her eyes tightly and composed herself. "I understand."

And now, thirty hours later, Tony is only a few minutes away. She twists the 1804 silver dollar ring on her finger, the ring she'd created in a flight of fancy, a moment of weakness where she had just needed to pretend he was there with her.

She can't hide the joy when she sees him. He looks tired, and smaller, but she doesn't fight the smile or the glimmer of tears in her eyes, and when he heads straight for her she sees the uncertainty in his eyes and she sees the small smile.

He isn't the same man. But then, she's not the same woman, either.

* * *

><p><strong>Notes<strong>

**People**

Some of the people mentioned in this chapter are real. Not including those mentioned in prior chapters:

**David Milliband **(British Member of Parliament who did attend MIT at the same time that Tony Stark would have); **Dr. Maliha Lodhi **(The High Commissioner of Pakistan to the United Kingdom in 2008).

**Places**

All locations mentioned in this chapter are real. Not including those mentioned in prior chapters:

Afghanistan: Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province, Dashti Margo desert, Kandahar Combat Hospital.

Germany: Kaiserslautern, Ramstein Air Base, Landstuhl, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, St. Johannis Hospital.

**Miscellaneous**

Stark Industries TALON robots are actually the Foster-Miller TALON robots, which have been in service since 2000.


End file.
